Children’s Fiction

Footy Dreaming

Michael Hyde
Ford Street Publishing
2015

The story: Ben Meredith and Noah Davies are fifteen-year-old boys, living and playing footy for opposing teams in a small country town. They both eat, live and breathe footy, and both have the potential to play for an AFL team, should they be selected for the Bushrangers training squad first.

The highlights: This book is as much about racial vilification as it is about footy, with Noah, an Aboriginal, copping abuse on and off the field. On top of the constant dose of footy techniques and terminology, the characters ring true and the story is a page-turner. Perfect boy book for 10-14 year-olds. Great for those sporty, non-reading type of kids but it will appeal to the literary-minded boys too.